North Shore Rescue leader dies suddenly on Mount Seymour

Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun01.21.2014

Tim Jones, a veteran leader with North Shore Rescue. Jones, a team leader of North Shore Rescue died on Mount Seymour Sunday night, a member of the group wrote on its Facebook page.Kim Stallknecht Kim Stallknecht
/ PNG

Tim Jones of North Shore Search and rescue communicates with rescue volunteers on West slope of Cypress Mtn in West Vancouver, December 22, 2012. Jones, a team leader of North Shore Rescue died on Mount Seymour Sunday night, a member of the group wrote on its Facebook page.Arlen Redekop
/ Vancouver Sun

Tim Jones of North Shore Search and Rescue sits in his truck with a map as he communicates with rescue volunteers on the west slope of Cypress Mtn in West Vancouver, B.C., December 22, 2012. Jones, a team leader of North Shore Rescue died on Mount Seymour Sunday night, a member of the group wrote on its Facebook page.Arlen Redekop
/ Vancouver Sun

Tim Jones, a team leader of North Shore Rescue died on Mount Seymour Sunday night, a member of the group wrote on its Facebook page.Kim Stallknecht
/ PNG

North Shore Search and Rescue team members John Blown (Left to right), Mike Danks with his six-month old daughter Millie, team leader Tim Jones and Jeff Yarnold are being interviewed inside Rescue One Mobile Command Unit the day after rescuing snowboarder Sebastien Boucher at Cypress ski area. Jones, a team leader of North Shore Rescue died on Mount Seymour Sunday night, a member of the group wrote on its Facebook page.Mark Yuen
/ Vancouver Sun

Tim Jones, a team leader of North Shore Rescue died on Mount Seymour Sunday night, a member of the group wrote on its Facebook page.Kim Stallknecht
/ PNG

Tim Jones even found time to lead the campaign when it came to raising funds in 1997 for new vehicles for the organization to do its with better efficiency. Here Jones joined fellow North Shore Search and Rescue team members Allen Billy, left, and Don Jardine, right, to publicize the effort.Mark van Manen
/ VANCOUVER SUN

Tim Jones was a paramedic and North Shore Search and Rescue team leader who guided the organization through its growth, including moving from cramped equipment facilities in 1999.Bill Keay
/ Vancouver Sun

Tim Jones of North Shore Search and Rescue would constantly warn recreational users of the dangers of the mountains. Jones pointed out one of those areas to avoid, even though it was July, 1999, and just a few metres from the top parking lot at Mount Seymour.ian lindsay
/ Vancouver Sun

It seemed Tim Jones of the North Shore Search and Rescue team always had his hands full, literally and figuratively. He he works the phone with a map in his hand while preparing for another mission.Stuart Davis
/ Vancouver Sun

Helicopter searches of the dense terrain of the North Shore are constantly an MO for Tim Jones’s team.Peter Battistoni
/ Vancouver Sun

There were many a bone-chilling night of effort on the mountains for Tim Jones, in the green vest, and his North Shore Search and Rescue team members. Here Jones and Jeff Palmer of the West Vancouver police take charge as teams work into the night on Cypress Mountain, to continue the search for a missing snow boarder on Jan. 9, 2006Mark van Manen
/ Vancouver Sun

Tired but happy, North Shore Search and Rescue team members emerge as heroes after two nights on Mount Seymour in the effort to save a snowshoer. Tim Jones, centre, provides details of the harrowing rescue on the mountain.Steve Bosch
/ Vancouver Sun

Chris Morley speaks with Tim Jones, right, and John Blown of North Shore Search and Rescue in his hospital bed at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver on Jan. 28, 2008, after his successful helicopter evacuation from Mount Seymour. Morley fell about 200 metres before he was rescued in an effort that took two days. His appreciative mother, Janet Morley, left, and wife Marcy stay close.Stuart Davis
/ Vancouver Sun

North Shore Search and Rescue’s Tim Jones is surrounded by maps during the effort to find British tourist Tom Billings on Grouse Mountain on Dec. 29, 2013.Arlen Redekop
/ PNG

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METRO VANCOUVER - Paramedic dispatchers often joked that when a call came in about anything even remotely extraordinary on the North Shore mountains, Tim Jones would probably already be up there.

And if he wasn't, he was texting his North Shore search and rescue team members to prepare them for the day ahead.

"I swear he didn't sleep," said John Blown, who volunteered with Jones on the North Shore Search and Rescue unit for 11 years. "He was a force of nature. I've never met anyone who was so passionate and dedicated."

Tributes continue to pour in for Jones, 57, who died suddenly Sunday on his way down from the rescue group's cabin on Mount Seymour after hosting a team event. He was walking with his daughter, Taylor, and one of his team members when he asked them to "hang on a minute," North Shore Fire Chief Dan Pistilli said. Then he collapsed.

Paramedics, firefighters and police flooded the scene, but were unable to revive him. Jones was later pronounced dead at Lions Gate Hospital.

Jones, a paramedic with the North Vancouver B.C. Ambulance Service since 1982, was known as the face and voice of the 40-member North Shore search and rescue team. During the past 30 years, he and his team participated in more than 1,600 rescues, prompting some of the many mourners on Monday to dub Jones a local superhero for devoting his life to helping others.

One person wrote that "so many lives were saved because Tim Jones lived."

Jones has been recognized before: In 2011, he was awarded the Order of B.C. for his work with the rescue organization, which is B.C.'s busiest team. That was followed by an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Capilano University a year later.

When asked why he would risk his life to save others, Jones told The Vancouver Sun in 2012 that: "I like doing it . . . we train to do it."

"He just gave every minute of the day to help people," Pistilli said. "The comment was made last night about trying to fill those shoes, and I don't think there's enough people out there to do it. ... The amount of work and effort he put into the rescue team was unbelievable."

Those who knew Jones well described him as a blunt, no-nonsense guy, who told it like he saw it — whether he was at work, on the trail searching for a lost soul, or talking to the media. He was a "no-bullshit-kind of guy," Blown said, and didn't always play the rules when it came to rescuing people because he didn't want to waste time with red tape when someone's life was at stake.

"As long as we were saving someone or helping people, that's what we did," Blown said.

He cited the high-risk, three-day rescue of Sebastien Boucher, 33, on Cypress Mountain in December 2012. The whole team was needed and the conditions were "brutal and exhausting," Blown said.

Jones told The Sun at the time that he didn't follow protocol then, noting that if he had, the snowboarder would have been dead.

"This is the way it is," Jones said at the time. "The other way doesn't work."

Boucher later raised $10,000 for the search and rescue team, which Jones said would be used for helicopter training and a new rope rescue catwalk to help members train for rappelling into risky areas.

In the ongoing debate about whether people lost on the North Shore mountains should have to pay a fee to cover some of their rescue costs, Jones said consistently that there should be no fee, arguing that such a charge might cause people to hesitate in seeking help, thus further endangering themselves.

Blown added that Jones was always behind the rescue team 100 per cent, and was the first one there if they needed him.

"Tim had a huge heart, he was a big softy," Blown said. "One minute he'd be yelling at you and trying to get you to perform harder during training, and the next minute he'd have a big laugh. He was very loud and rough, but one of the most caring people I know. That's one of the things that made him so endearing."

But it wasn't just his team, or lost hikers or skiers, that Jones watched over. Burnaby's Alyssa Goad remembered how Jones stepped in when her Bernese Mountain Dog, Ohly, was missing for weeks on Mount Seymour in December 2012. He had given volunteers maps of the area, but then took control of the situation when Ohly was spotted heading into Suicide Gully.

"He called in a favour and called in his guys to do a training," Goad said. "People knew (Ohly) was down there and Tim was worried it would turn into a human rescue, not just a dog rescue."

After he led Ohly to safety, Jones kept in touch with Goad, who even met his wife and children. And in December, he invited her to the team's Christmas party, where he had Santa hand out Bernese dog stuffed animals to all the children.

"He said when parents are called out to (rescues), the kids have these things to hang on to," Goad said. "He was an amazing man, he didn't have to help."

North Vancouver City Mayor Darrell Mussatto said he was shocked to hear of Jones' death from the local fire chief. Mussatto, who had gone to teacher training with Jones, later followed him into the world of paramedics. The two had been good friends, even hiking the Lions together, for 30 years.

"Tim was a hero. He did things for others," Mussatto said. "He was a dedicated, hard-working individual."

Jones, who has two children, had planned to retire this year. On his LinkedIn profile, Jones said he has dedicated his life to becoming a helicopter rescue coordinator.

"This is serious business and we take this very seriously," he said. "Outside this, I have only one aspiration after this, and that is to pay back my wife for time lost."

Paramedic Cameron Eby, who had worked with him, said Jones had planned to leave once construction started on a new ambulance station at Lions Gate Hospital, something Jones had lobbied for long and hard.

"He was always that guy going above and beyond," Eby said, recalling how Jones was the first one on scene when Eby once crashed his ambulance.

During his tenure with the rescue organization, Jones advocated for the use of helicopter-based long-line rescue, and an area-wide communications system, and was recently in talks with North Vancouver District about getting cameras on some trails.

North Vancouver District Mayor Richard Walton said cameras could be installed at the trailheads of areas including Lynn Headwaters, Seymour and Cypress Bowl, but it will require many discussions because of jurisdictional issues.

He added some trails or facilities will also likely be re-named after Jones, who was well-known in the community.

"I imagine there may be more than one naming for Tim's contribution," Walton said.

Walton noted that while Jones was the face for search and rescue, he worked with a team of about 40 volunteers who are grieving.

"It was just a shock."

Blown agreed. "It's a sad, sad day. He was a true mentor to me and a lot of the people on the team. We didn't think he'd be leaving us quite so soon."

A few thousand people are expected to attend Jones' memorial service, planned for Saturday, Jan. 25 at Centennial Theatre on Lonsdale.

A memorial fund was set up late Monday to "help ensure Tim's vision lives on."

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